


Pocky Day

by manicExpressive



Series: NaNoShallura2018 [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Kissing, NaNoWriMo, The Pocky Game, shallura - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 06:42:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16592810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manicExpressive/pseuds/manicExpressive
Summary: “Well…it…was kind of a game of ‘chicken’.”No it isn’t, you idiot. It’s an excuse to make out.





	Pocky Day

**Author's Note:**

> It's 11/11, so it's POCKY DAY. And where there's Pocky there's the infamous Pocky Game. In Space. As per usual my title is boring, but hey.

She turned the red box over in her hands once, then twice with a slight frown. It wasn’t one of her frowns of disapproval—Shiro understood what those looked like very well at this point—but a frown of concentration. The way her brows tried to press together as she read the list of ingredients, that likely made just as much sense as gibberish to an alien, made him grin. Adorable.

“There’s an entire day dedicated to this biscuit?” Allura sounded appropriately dubious.

Shiro nodded. “Yep.” He held his right hand out and she passed the box back to him. “It was a marketing campaign started back in the 1990s.”

“The nineteen-nineties?”

“Ah—a while ago. Back on Earth.”

The Earth Store at the Space Mall had become something of a stopping point any time Team Voltron was feeling a little homesick. Shiro hadn’t actually gone for the first and second trips, but the third time he figured he should see what the hype was about—more than video games and cows and hammer pants, he hoped.

He was not disappointed.

Well, he was a little disappointed—it seemed that Earth’s reputation across the universe for being something of a “nobody” planet was exactly as he feared, but even worse? All that was known of their accomplishments were memes.

_Memes._

Pidge and Lance loved it. Keith was mostly ambivalent. Hunk did enjoy finding anything familiar. Coran and Allura found it to be quaint and confusing.

Shiro was a little embarrassed and deftly avoided questions about vines commemorated in t-shirts.

But he didn’t leave empty handed. He had been a little hesitant about the snack section—what with the implication that these most definitely did _come_ from Earth, but how old they were was something else entirely—all his reservations and doubts went with the solar wind when he found a small collection of “Earth Delicacies” in red and pink boxes.

_Pocky._

Nights of laying sprawled on the floor of his bedroom with a blanket and his Naruto headband, happily munching on Pocky as he streamed episodes on his tablet came rushing back.

He’d gotten ten boxes.

All ten sat next to them in his room as Allura shifted through the two available flavors—chocolate and strawberry. The gray alien who ran the Earth Shop had apologized that they were “out of Men’s Pocky”, so Shiro should be careful if he wanted to eat the other versions as they were not specifically created with his unique dietary needs in mind.

How thoughtful.

Shiro opened the box of chocolate, looking very pleased. The silvery bag inside went with it and revealed several perfectly edible sticks.

_Ah_. He was so happy.

He plucked a biscuit out for himself and then held the box towards Allura in offering. Plopping the stick in his mouth, he nodded.

“Try one.”

Allura pursed her lips as she peered inside before carefully selecting one of the sticks. Shiro munched on the end. It made a pleasant crunch. She followed Shiro’s lead and took a more conservative bite, but her eyes widened almost immediately.

“ _Oh._ ”

“Yeah, see?” That piece of Pocky didn’t last long and he was already going in for a second. “They’re really addicting.”

Allura finished hers a little more ravenously before demanding another from the box, which Shiro gladly gave.

“I haven’t had these since I was a kid.”

“They must have been very popular in order to have made it out this far,” she proposed as she finished off her second piece.

“They were back home, yeah. I’m kind of surprised they have them out here, but I’m not complaining.”

“So you celebrated one day a deca-phoeb—I’m sorry, ‘year’, to honor this snack?”

Shiro laughed at that and Allura tilted her head. “No, not exactly. Well—okay, _technically_ it became an official memorial day in Japan, but for the most part it was just a lot of advertising and fun commercials. Sometimes we played games with them too.”

“Oh? What kind of games?”

Shiro opened his mouth, then paused.

“Well…it…was kind of a game of ‘chicken’.”

_No it isn’t, you idiot. It’s an excuse to make out._

“Chicken?” Allura’s frown returned.

“Oh, it—chickens are a barnyard animal like cows—well, no, not _like_ cows that they look like cows, but they live in the same place—…”

Allura’s frown deepened.

Shiro shook his head. “Let me start over.”

He pulled another stick out of the box and held it out horizontal between them. “You have two people and one piece of Pocky. Each person takes an end and both try to eat towards the middle. Whoever breaks off first loses.”

Allura’s frown stayed only for a moment before realization dawned on her and all the lines smoothed out.

“Oh. I see.” She leaned in slightly, eyes sparkling with new interest. “And what should happen if this comes to a draw.”

There was absolutely no way he couldn’t lean in as well to that look. He shrugged.

“Want to find out?”

Allura’s grin was practically infectious.

_So what if it’s an excuse to make out? It’s not like you haven’t before._

She scooted over, situating herself properly across from him on the bed, her legs folded neatly beneath her. Shiro crossed one leg, his knee bumping hers, with his other planted firmly on the floor. He held the Pocky between them.

“You sure you want to do this, Princess?”

“Oh, I am absolutely sure.”

“You might eat your words.”

“That’s not what I’m hoping to eat.”

Shiro sputtered, red taking his cheekbones instantly. Allura just laughed.

“Okay, that is _definitely_ cheating!” he accused.

“You said no such thing! The rules were very simple. Or are you looking for an excuse to back out, Paladin?”

“Never.”

Silence. They watched each other for a quiet moment, both smiling as the color on Shiro’s face started to cool just a little. Then he carefully took one end between his lips and Allura followed suit a few seconds after. He raised a brow at her and she raised a brow back.

It was on.

And, really, it wasn’t fair at all. Even from the start their faces were impossibly close—had he realized how short Pocky was up until this point? It only took a few bites on either end for their noses to touch. They both took pause and he resisted the urge to nuzzle her like he had done so many times before. Catching her gaze, she had a look of supreme concentration that made his heart melt.

He took another bite. As did she. Their lips were only an inch apart. Shiro inhaled through his nose—

And Allura took that half, leaving their mouths a ghost of a touch apart. There was nowhere else for Shiro to go but forward.

So, of course, he went.

He had kissed her a hundred times and then some, but every time he wondered what led him to that point, as if he was rediscovering what formed and continued to build between them. Her lips were soft and warm as they always were and he felt her tongue sliding forward. His face flushed a little deeper as he parted his lips in an invitation. Allura gave a happy sigh as she reacquainted herself with the inside of his mouth, curling her tongue around his—

—and deftly stole that last piece of Pocky.

When she pulled back she threw her hands in the air with a ‘whoop’ of triumph. Shiro was left blushing and shocked.

“I win!”

“That—“ Words had trouble forming and died on his lips. All he could do was fall into a surprised, breathless laugh, hopelessly charmed by his very competitive princess. “Yeah, yeah you did.”

Allura grinned—no, she _smirked_ at her opponent. But she preferred to beat people at their best, of course, and Shiro had home court advantage. He just smiled back at her as her smirk softened into a smile. She leaned forward to place a more chaste kiss on his lips.

“You were a worthy opponent.”

He chuckled. “I’m glad you think so.”

Allura picked the box back up and raised a brow. “Care to go again?”

Shiro’s lips twitched a little further upward. “Giving me a second chance, huh?”

Allura shrugged and pulled out a stick. “I’d like to make this a winning streak.”

“You think I’ll let you win that easily now that I know your dirty tricks?”

She gasped, playfully aghast at such accusations. “Oh, _those_ are fighting words if I ever heard them. I will make you regret that.”

“Please do,” he said a little too readily.

Her eyes narrowed, pleased and Shiro didn’t even bother with looking ashamed. Allura lined up the Pocky stick from her mouth this time and Shiro started to lean back in.

“Shiro.”

“Mm?”

“You do realize this game has nothing to do with chickens.”


End file.
